More room at the Canine Inn

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Kerrville Daily Times

By Gerard MacCrossan

In August, 120 dogs and cats were euthanized at Kerr County Animal Control.

The killing of animals there is a trend Animal Control Supervisor Janie Roman said she doesn’t believe will ever end.

However, the facility moved closer when a new 25-pen building opened two weeks ago. Combined with proactive attempts by kennel staff to find adoptive homes and better responsibility by local pet owners, there is a chance to save more lives.

“We have more space, so we’re not euthanizing nearly as much,” she said. “But I have to really wait to see what my numbers will be like for this month.”

Roman said she hopes fewer animals will have been euthanized than before.

“Our adoption rate has gone up,” she said.

Two facility employees hired recently have been proactive in contacting animal rescue centers and breed rescue organizations to place dogs and cats.

The new dog run

Kerrville resident Pat Ginsbach, who moved here from South Texas about six years ago, offered to fund construction of the new building at Kerr County Animal Control after he lost a dog last year. Ginsbach said he visited animal control several times looking for his dog.

“I found out what happened to the dog, and it wasn’t alive,” he said. “But I adopted a dog there. That little dog has turned out to be a great dog.”

Based on that experience, Ginsbach offered to fund construction of additional runs that would give animal control a more attractive place to show animals that could be adopted and provide a nicer place for the animals than the existing pens.

The concrete pens house individual dogs or a family of puppies and can be hosed down by kennel workers to keep them clean. Several local contractors, including Thomas Mall Concrete, Danny Feller Fabricators, Lowery Plumbing, Sparky’s Electric, Tony Dean Painting and Garcia’s Painting worked on the project, Roman said.

“I’m real happy I did it,” Ginsbach said. “Over a period of time — take it over 20 years — if you think of how many dogs it’s going to save, you’re probably talking a dollar a dog.”

Ginsbach said he challenges others to consider funding construction of an additional building that could help defer the need for animals to be euthanized.

Why so many animals?

Roman said the root of the abandoned animals problem is the lack of responsibility by pet owners. Animal owners outside the Kerrville city limits often aren’t aware of the law requiring them to keep their animals on their own property.